Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1887-07-22
Turkish Infnnts---HOw They Pass
Their Early Wears in the unrem.

When an heir is born to an Oriental pa
rent, writes Oscan Yam in Harpers Bazar.
it Is not washed and dressed in long clothes.
as is the custom in civilized society. but at
once salted, the body wound round with
long belly band, - and the infant envclop-
ed in a quilt, diagonally placed, the end at
the feet turned up, and the two side, lap
ped over the upper end left loose to sup
port the head. The head is tied up in a
painted handkerchief, and the forehead
adorned with gold coins, trinkets, and
charms, 50 that when the toilet is complet-
ed 1t looks much like a dimnutive Egyptian
mummy. This swathing is called in Orien-
tai language koondack, or the same as the
scriptural 'swadding-clothes. ." The child
is then laid by the side of the mother to be
nursed, and when week or so old it is
taken out of the koondack and laid in a
Turkish cradle. This piece Of nursery
furniture consists Of a frame about four
feet long, set on rockers, with head and
foot boards about two feet high and a
cross-bar stretching over it to support a
net The child is laid in it on its back. on
soft mattresses and a light pillow, and the
arms and legs securely fastened down by
twobelts called bagherdaks, so that the poor
thing IS in pillory, and cannot by any
possibility move, except his head. 1t is
not taken out to be nursed, but the mother
or the wet nurse, kneeling by the side tits
the cradle sufficiently over to enable the
child to reach the breast. The infant is
only relieved from this instrument of tor
ture to be re-enveloped in the swaddling
clothes. Hence it is that Ezekiel laments
over the neglected condition of Jerusalem
when he eXclaims Thou was not salted
at al'-an expression which seems to puz-
zle the most erudite divines, for | have
heard some absurd commentaries on this
passage, trying to explain its meaning.
The fact is the Bible is not a myth. but a
record of actual life in the East hence all
the sayings and aphorisms are ineligible
to the commonest inhabitants, whereas
these practices, being unknown to the civ
ilized world, become incomprehensible.
This absurd treatment of the infant. nat
urally impeding the circulation of the blood.
renders the child black and blue in the face.
which condition they try to relieve by an
other practice, equally absurd, called had
janet, or scariiication. This is done bv de
nuding the infant and laying it across the
knees ON its stomach, and making small in
clslons with razor on the back from the
nape of the neck to the ankles so as to
free the body from the stagnant blood, the
marks Of which remain on the body ever
after as token Of paternal tenderness and
affection
The child is nursed for nearly two years,
and when the swaddling- clothes are laid
aside it is dressed like grown-up persons.
Nor have they any special apartment for
the nursery, their patriarchal habitudes not
permitting any such arrangement.
The first years of the life of any girl are
spent in the harem and selamluk, or mems
apartments, indiscriminately. The female
children being then allowed free access to
the society of men, they imbibe certain no
tions in their youth which are not always
consistent with refinement.